Last Chance
by CaseyL
Summary: Rayna is marrying Luke, but is that what she really wants? What happens when she goes on the road with he and Deacon. Based very loosely on some spoilers for season 3.
1. Chapter 1

**I've been very uninspired due to the terrible spoilers for season 3, but somehow I came up with something I wanted to share. Based loosely on some spoilers, this starts a few episodes into the season after Rayna has already picked Luke (I'm crying just saying that). I was trying to write it as a one shot, but it got too long, so probably will only be a couple of chapters.**

Rayna walked into the back room of the rehearsal space. She knew it's where most of the guys in Luke's band relaxed before a big show. They'd sit around and throw out ideas; it's where the creative juices really got flowing when they weren't performing for anyone but themselves. Luke was down in the bar with his manager. He'd mumbled something about some endorsement deal with one of the casinos before exiting their suite. The one thing Rayna was sure of these days was that she wanted to stay as far away from publicity as possible, so after giving Luke a wave she headed down to find the band.

She could hear the music from down the hall. It was a sound so sweet and melodic, it got every cell in her body to stand on end. Beautiful soft chords were mingling with a woman's voice she recognized, but couldn't quite place. A smile broke out from ear to ear as she stepped through the door and into the room, crowded with some of the best musicians out of Nashville. This is where she belonged, in the mix with the band, not up on some imaginary pedestal created by the paparazzi. The excitement took hold of her and held her in a state of euphoria, that is until she broke through the crowd and saw the duo who was creating that sweet sweet sound. It was Luke's backup singer Pam singing the song, and right next to her with her hand placed strategically on his leg was Deacon, strumming his guitar and chiming in for the chorus.

A lump caught in Rayna's throat. She knew they'd been hanging out together. She'd seen the show they put on yesterday when they'd rolled into Vegas on that ridiculous motorcycle that Deacon had bought. Rayna had just driven in from the airport and she was meeting up with Luke as his entourage pulled into the MGM. They were all parked in the back of the hotel. Roadies were carrying the gear off of the trucks, and musicians were filing off the busses, when she'd heard them before she'd even seen them. In fact everyone heard them, they'd made damn sure of that. The motorcycle revved and the engine made a loud boom sound as Deacon skidded into the parking lot with Pam in tow. Her arms were wrapped around his waist tightly and she let out a joyous yelp as the bike came to an abrupt stop. Everyone halted what they were doing to watch the spectacle. Deacon pulled off his helmet and let out a relaxed chuckle.

If she thought about it, she hadn't really seen him like that in ages, maybe since he was 20 or 21, before the drinking really set in. It was almost as if all the burdens of those years had been lifted from him, as if he'd finally let go of all the hurt and pain and darkness that he'd carried with him for the past 20 years.

As Deacon set the kickstand with his boot, Pam swung her body around so that she was straddling him. Rayna could tell he was a bit surprised with the move, but he didn't seem to protest when she planted one on him in front of the whole crew. A makeup woman standing next to Rayna laughed. "Good ole' Pam, not a shy bone in her body. Then again, if I had that body, I wouldn't be shy with it either." Rayna threw up a little in her mouth.

That was yesterday. Today was part two she guessed. Only she had never heard this song before and everyone was entranced. She leaned over and asked one of the roadies what was going on. "New song Deacon and Pam wrote together, those two are magic, don't you think?" Rayna gave him a weak smile. She tried to stay and listen, after all, he was right, they were melding together beautifully. There was definitely a spark there that Rayna couldn't deny. What she also couldn't deny was the sick feeling growing in her stomach and the fact that her temperature was rising well past it's normal Rayna Jaymes cool. She turned around and made a bee-line for the stairwell behind the stage. When she was sufficiently alone she sat down on one of the concrete steps and started to cry. She didn't want to cry, she didn't want to feel anything. She wanted to love Luke, and have amazing endorsement deals, and hit records, and not have to worry about how she was paying for her house, and most of all she wanted to put Deacon Claybourne behind her and not get upset at the thought of him singing and writing with someone else.

She wasn't sure how long she'd been there when the door to the stairwell opened and she heard someone heading towards her. She tried to hide her face so the person wouldn't recognize her, but she clearly heard the sound of boots stopping next to her and knew she wasn't so lucky.

"You okay Ray?"

"Oh god," she thought. "Could this be any worse?" She wiped her eyes and looked up at him standing above her. "I'm fine."

"I may not be able to read you as well as I used to, but it don't take a genius to see that you're not fine." Deacon sat down next to her and rested his elbows on his knees. "You gonna tell me, or am I going to have to bring in reinforcements?"

"What reinforcements?"

"I have Maddie on speed dial and I will not hesitate to call her if it looks like you need a certain amount of cheering up."

Rayna half-laughed before turning away and looking down. "I don't think she'd want to cheer me up. She's not too happy with me these days. Even Daphne's been throwing me some serious shade lately."

"Man, I don't even know what Daphne shade would look like. Every time that kid tries to scowl it's like hearts and rainbows come out of her."

The thought of hearts and rainbows coming out of her youngest's mouth brought a real smile to her face. "This is all just such a mess Deacon."

"What is Ray?"

"You know, this." She said motioning between the two of them.

"Actually Rayna, I think for the first time in years this," he made the same motion signaling he meant whatever was between the two of them. "This is all cleared up. There's no wondering, no what if's. You've made it clear you don't want me, and I've moved on."

She knew that him saying that should have made her feel relief, it's what she'd told herself she'd wanted, but listening to him say the words that he'd "moved on" just made the queasiness in her stomach intensify. "Just like that?"

"Well, maybe not just like that. But for the first time in maybe ever I'm seeing real clear. All those years that I was in love with you, I thought all it would take to make me happy was to have you back in my arms. Cole used to say that you were my addiction, that you were just messing with my head and I couldn't see it because unlike the booze or the pills I couldn't let you go."

She hadn't realized Cole had felt that way about her, and it shocked her. She'd never thought of herself like that. She'd never wanted anything but the best for Deacon.

"I always said he was crazy, that you were the love of my life, but I guess I could've said the same about the booze at my worst, but having you choose Luke, especially when I'm the strongest, the soberest, maybe the best I've ever been, it made me see that he was right. All those years I'd been sober, if you'd really loved me, wanted me, we would have been together. You would have left Teddy a hell of a lot earlier if that's what you'd really wanted, but I was so blind I couldn't see it, but I finally do, and now like the booze and the pills, I'm breaking my Rayna Jaymes addiction, putting it behind me, and moving on."

It felt like someone had stabbed her in the heart. Rayna wasn't sure what to say or do, but the moment she did it she knew it was probably the exact opposite of what she should have done. She reached up cupping Deacon's face in her hands and leaned over taking his mouth in hers. She felt him respond for a split second before he jerked away and stood up. "What are you doing Ray?"

Rayna was flustered and could barely speak. "I'm sorry, I just…"

"Jesus Christ Ray. You just can't stand the thought of me being happy can you? You can't stand the thought of me moving on. Every time I start to get on my feet, put you in the past you just have to pull me back in."

Rayna stood up to match Deacon, stepping up on the stair so she was at his height. "Me? You're the one who showed up at my front door an hour after Luke proposed to me with your own ring. How was that not trying to pull me back in?"

"That was different."

"Oh, that was different, how was it different Deacon? What? I was just supposed to throw away the relationship that I'd been in for the last six months and run off into the sunset with you? Is that what I was supposed to do?"

"If you'd loved me."

Rayna shook her head. "And if you loved me, you wouldn't have jumped up when I kissed you, or am I just another one of your dirty habits? Is that what you're reducing our 27 year relationship to these days?"

Deacon got a sad look on his face for a moment, but it was only fleeting, and Rayna could see him regain his composure. "We can't keep doing this Ray. I'm getting off this merry-go-round right now." Deacon turned around and ran back up the stairs slamming the hard metal emergency door as he left. Rayna slid back down to the step right before the tears started to come again.


	2. Chapter 2

**I know everyone is loving strong Deacon, but I intended this to be short and fluffy despite the angsty beginning. Thought we could use something maybe not so realistic to what the show is going to do, especially after the most recent spoilers. Looks like FF is the only place Deyna will ever be together again. **

By the time she reached the penthouse suite Luke was back from his meeting. She wasn't up for speaking with him, not after what had just happened, but there really didn't seem to be a choice. She sat down on the couch in the living room and played with the ring on her finger as Luke talked. "So they want me to do two commercials a year and three guest appearances and they'll pay me $1.2 million. I think that's a pretty good deal, don't you? Just money in the bank." Luke continued to ramble about endorsement deals and public appearances until Rayna couldn't take it anymore. "Luke sit down."

Luke stopped moving around the room and sat down next to Rayna. "I'm sorry sugar was I not paying enough attention to you, come here." Luke leaned in to kiss Rayna but the memory of Deacon's lips pressed against hers was still too vivid and she pulled back. Luke got a concerned look on his face. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's just that I've been a little confused lately. This is all happening so quickly. It's already late October and the wedding is supposed to be happening on Thanksgiving."

Luke laughed, "Oh, you're concerned about us getting everything done on time. I told you, my manager is taking care of all that, you don't have to worry your pretty little head about anything, it will be the most beautiful wedding you could ever imagine. Fit for a king and queen. Well, at least a king and queen of country."

"I'm sure it will Luke, but that's not what's worrying me. I just think I need more time. What's the rush? Why can't we have a summer wedding instead? Or maybe next fall?"

"Once we're married all those jitters will just go away I promise you."

"It's more than just jitters Luke." Rayna hesitated, not sure she should say the next sentence, but she knew she had to if she was going to go into this relationship with honesty. "I kissed Deacon."

The smile disappeared from Luke's face. "You mean when he proposed back in May, right?"

Rayna couldn't get herself to look at him, but shook her head. "No, I mean today."

That was enough to send Luke flying through the door and Rayna after him. "That piece of shit, I can't believe him."

"No, Luke, I kissed him, he didn't kiss me." Rayna tried to stop him, grabbing at his arm, but when he was on a rampage there was no stopping him. Luke ran down the stairs and into the lobby that was attached to the theater. If any paparazzi had been there they would have been lucky enough to see the king of country plowing through the room with Ms. Rayna Jaymes trying to run behind him in her high heels, and would have known something big was about to go down.

Luke hit the practice room and pushed his way through his band until he spotted him standing by a piano chatting with his lead guitar player. Before Deacon knew what hit him Luke's fist was making contact with his eye as Rayna screamed and everyone in the room once again adjusted their focus to a very different type of spectacle.

"I can't believe you," Luke screamed. "You just don't know when to give up. Kissing my lady. Who the fuck do you think you are?" Rayna finally reached Luke and managed to pull him off Deacon so that he could stand up. "I told you Luke, I kissed him." Luke wasn't hearing any of it, he was on a mission. He tried to take another swing at Deacon, but he was too fast and dodged away. When Deacon stood back up he was mad as hell. Rayna thought he might take a swing at Luke, but he didn't. "I can't believe you Rayna, that you told him _I_kissed _you_!" Rayna shook her head trying to get through to Deacon that Luke had it all wrong, but it clearly wasn't working.

"I don't know what kind of sick game the two of you like to play, but I don't want to be part of it anymore. You can have her man, I'm done with her…for good." Deacon grabbed his guitar and charged out of the room with Pam running after him. Luke swung around looking to follow and maybe get one more good punch in, but Rayna grabbed him holding him in place. She looked around at the whole band staring at them and pulled him into a slightly more secluded corner. "What the hell do you think you're doing Luke?"

"I'm standing up for my woman, what do you think I'm doing?"

"You can't fly off the handle every time Deacon's name comes up. He didn't do anything wrong. You shouldn't have punched him."

"I can damn well punch anyone I want to punch Rayna, especially a guy who's trying to steal my woman."

"He wasn't trying to steal me, and even if he was, that's not an excuse. Is this how you're going to react to everything in our lives? With brute force?"

"That's who I am Rayna, I'm a man, and like a man I don't stand for someone taking what's mine."

"I'm not a piece of meat Luke. I'm not your property."

"I know, but as long as you're wearing that ring you belong to me, and anyone who tries to take you can expect more of the same."

Rayna took a deep breath and looked down at the ring on her hand. "Well maybe I should be giving this back to you then." She wiggled the ring off her finger and handed it to Luke.

"You better think real hard about this Rayna, because once you give this back to me you're not getting it back again."

"Well, I guess that's how it's going to be then." Rayna handed it to him, then turned around and walked out of the practice room. She high tailed it back to the hotel before heading up to the 7th floor where Deacon's room was. She walked up to 715 knocking on the door, and wasn't too surprised when Pam answered. "What do you want?" she asked.

"I want to speak to Deacon," Rayna replied.

Pam had the door open a crack and Rayna could barely see in. "He doesn't want to see you okay."

Rayna knew she was only trying to protect him, but she wasn't going to let this woman try to dictate what the relationship was going to be between herself and the man she'd loved for over 25 years who also happened to be the father of her eldest. "Listen, I'm sure you're only doing what he asked, but this doesn't concern you. You come back to me when you've spent 27 years and conceived a daughter with him alright? I'm going in and there's nothing you can do about it." Rayna pushed past Pam into the room. When she did, she found Deacon sitting on the bed, ice pack in hand. He looked at Rayna and sighed. "Pam can you give us a minute. I'll call you later." Pam looked like she didn't want to go, but she knew enough never to get involved in domestic squabbles so she left.

Rayna closed the door behind her, then sat down on the bed next to Deacon taking the ice pack in her hand and holding it over Deacon's eye. "Does it hurt?"

"What do you think Ray? I got punched in the goddam eye. Of course it fucking hurts."

"I'm sorry. I really didn't tell him that you kissed me. I said I kissed you."

"Why the hell d'you go and do that for anyway? You know he's taken a swing at me for less."

"I just wanted to be honest." She shifted so she was sitting in front of him on the bed, still holding the ice pack in place. "I was trying to explain to him why I thought we needed more time before we got married."

"You realize this is how it's going to be Rayna. The rest of our lives. He's never going to like me, and every time I pick Maddie up, drop her off, share a row with you for one of her concerts it's going to be like this. This is Teddy all over again, but worse. It's Teddy with a temper."

"It's _never_ going to be like this Deacon. I gave the ring back." Rayna held up her empty left hand showing Deacon she'd returned the gigantic rock that had been sitting on her left ring finger for the last few months.

"Oh, well, it's a good thing cause I wouldn't have wanted him around our daughter."

"Well he won't be."

"Well good."

Rayna and Deacon stared at each other for a moment, tension building up in the familiar way it always did. Rayna took the ice away so she could look at Deacon's eye. "How bad is it?"

"I don't know. It hurts like hell, and I can barely see out of it, so I'd say bad."

She put the ice pack down on the bed and gently ran her fingers over his left eye, which was quickly turning an ugly shade of purple. Then she leaned in and softly kissed the skin surrounding it. Deacon just stared at her as she did it. "Is that better?" she asked.

"I guess a little," he whispered.

She was practically on his lap by this point and all he could smell was that damn fruity shampoo she always used. It was distracting him in the way it always did when suddenly Rayna straddled him and was kissing his lips with all the passion she could muster. He wanted to resist, but with her on top of him like this and his wounded eye, he felt a little helpless and just began to relent. When they came up for air he pulled back. "We shouldn't do this Ray…for a number of reasons."

"Come on now Deacon, you got punched in the face for something you didn't do, you should at least make it for something you did do."

Deacon thought about it for a second then said "Fuck it. You're right." He grabbed Rayna throwing her onto the bed and rolling over so he was on top of her. He knew that if she was truly his addiction he was giving in to every negative urge that was bad for him, but damn did it feel so good. They dispensed of their clothes in no time, and before either had time to think he was inside of her and all thought of Luke, addiction, and black eyes were in the past. Rayna moaned as he mastered every touch and kiss, bringing her to the orgasm she could only ever experience with him. "My god have I missed you," she cooed into his ear as she held him close.

After it was over he held her tight, limbs entwined with each other. Rayna stroked his hair as she looked into his eyes. "Do you really think I'm one of your addictions?"

Deacon took a deep breath. "I don't know Ray. All I know is that it's so hard to live without you. I crave you in a way similar to the way I sometimes crave the booze."

"I don't want to be your addiction Deacon. I want to love you, I want to be good for you."

Deacon looked deep into her eyes and touched her face. "Then why'd you choose Luke? If you love me so much, how could you have chosen him?"

Rayna rolled over on her back looking up at the ceiling and Deacon let her move away. She felt ashamed, like she didn't deserve for him to be holding her right now. "I guess I was scared. You and me, we're like lightening. When it's good it's so good, but when it's bad…I just couldn't handle the chance that it would be that way again."

Deacon rolled over so he was looking down at Rayna. "I know you're scared. I'm scared too, but that doesn't mean we should give up on us. I don't know if you're good for me, or bad for me, or what. All I know is that when we're together, and when we're with our children everything feels right. It always has. But Ray, it's not always going to be easy. No matter how hard we try, no matter how much we love each other, there's always going to be rough patches. That's just life. Trouble comes. The question is, are you going to be there when it does? Are we going to work through it together instead of running away like we used to? Cause if we do that, there ain't nothing to be scared of."

Rayna smiled up at him. "I think I have an idea for some lyrics. Want to work on them with me?"

"Yeah." Deacon smiled and jumped out of bed grabbing his guitar.

An hour later Rayna was wearing one of Deacon's flannels, and the bed was scattered with papers. "I think this is pretty good," Rayna said as she was scribbling the last verse."

"Another song, not written on the floor," Deacon laughed.

Rayna playfully slapped his arm. "Let's go through it. I'll take the first part."

_When trouble comes, and it always will, will you turn and run, or will you be here still?_

_Will you hold my hand, do you think you can? When the hard times have begun, when trouble comes. _

"Now you're turn." Rayna said. Deacon's deep baritone rang out into the hotel room.

_When the clouds roll in, and they always do. And the lightning strikes, and it frightens you._

_Will you still be here, or will you disappear? When it isn't all so fun, when trouble comes._

"OK, now both of us for the chorus_."_

_It's easy when it's easy, when everything is fine, but will some hard tomorrow sorrow change your heart, and change your mind?_

"Bridge I think, then a repeat of the chorus."

_It's easy when it's easy, when everything is fine, but will some hard tomorrow sorrow change your heart, and change your mind?_

_When trouble comes. And it always will. _

"Now let's split it. You start."

_Will you turn and run?_

_Will you be here still?_

_Will we find a way on our darkest day?_

_To hold out for the sun._

_To hold on till it's done._

_Will I still be the one, when trouble comes?_

Deacon added a big finish to the end then he put his guitar down. "Wow, that was real nice. Maybe we should add it to my concert tonight?"

"How much time do we have until you have to be there?"

"About two hours, why?"

"Maybe we should get married."

A look of shock came across Deacon's face. "What? Now? Are you serious?"

"We're in Vegas, why not now?"

Deacon stood up throwing clothing on. "I feel like this is a conversation we should be having while I'm dressed. Ray a few hours ago you were engaged to someone else, now you want to marry me?"

"I always wanted to marry you, since I was 16. I just got a little lost. That's not going to change if we wait a week or a month or a year. It's always what I'm going to want, I just needed to stop denying it."

Deacon leaned over and kissed Rayna. "What about the girls? Don't you want them there?"

"We can have a big party when we get back to Nashville, but right now I want it to be just us."

"You do realize that Luke is going to flip his top when he hears we've gotten married, right?"

"It's not about him babe. It's about us, and this is what I want. Is it what you want?"

"You know it is. I've never not wanted it. Just for a while I thought I couldn't have it. I'd marry you completely naked in the middle of the rain if that's what you wanted."

"Then let's do it." Rayna took Deacon's hand as she led him out of the room and down to the casino floor.

**The song that Rayna and Deacon sing is called "When Trouble Comes" and it was written by Chip and Sarah Siskind.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Just some more fluffiness. **

##

She had spotted a little chapel on their way in, and pulled Deacon in that direction making sure no one spotted them on the way.

When they got there a woman stood behind the counter looking at a snow globe with a little model of the strip in it. "Excuse me," Rayna interrupted. "We'd like to get married."

She could tell that the woman was a little startled when she looked up, not only because she hadn't heard them come in, but also because she recognized Rayna and knew she'd been engaged to Luke Wheeler earlier in the day. "Are you two sure?" she asked.

"Never more sure," Rayna replied looking at Deacon.

"Definitely sure," Deacon chimed in.

"What happened to your eye?" the woman asked.

"Oh this?" Deacon pointed at his swelling eye. "An old Claybourne tradition, you have to fight for your bride."

Rayna laughed and the woman looked nervous. "Alright, well fill this out. Do you want the ring package?"

"Oh, yeah. I guess we can use these for now. I wish I had the band with me, but it's back in Nashville."

"It's alright Ray, we can use that one later if you want. Or I could get you something nicer."

"No, I love that band. You're all that matters to me."

The woman smiled as Deacon and Rayna kissed. "I'll go get the man who marries you."

The woman went into the back room and Rayna turned to Deacon adjusting his shirt. "Are you sure you want to do this now Ray? Our wedding pictures are going to forever have me looking like this." Deacon pointed at his rather bruised eye.

"I don't know, seems kind of appropriate after all we've been through. Maybe I should get a black eye too. We can wear them like battle scars." Deacon leaned down and kissed Rayna again. "You know I love you right?"

"Uh huh. Love you too."

By then the man came out and placed them underneath a tacky gold and white arch in the background of the chapel. Deacon laughed again. "I can't believe we're doing this Ray."

"Well, believe it, cause it's happening."

"Do you want the quick version or the long version?" the man asked.

Deacon and Rayna both looked at each other for a moment then simultaneously said "Quick."

"Okay. Do you Deacon Claybourne take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward forsaking all others till death do you part?"

"I do." Deacon slipped the ring on Rayna's finger. It felt so good to do that. It had been a while since he'd slipped a ring on her finger, and the first time he barely remembered, but this, this felt permanent, and it felt right.

The man turned to Rayna. "Do you Rayna Wyatt take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward forsaking all others till death do you part?"

"I do," Rayna said as she wiped a tear away from Deacon's good eye and slipped the ring on his finger.

"Well then by the power invested in me by the state of Nevada, I now pronounce you husband and wife."

"Man, that was easy," Deacon said, letting out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding since they'd gotten there. "Seems like it should have been harder considering how long it took us to get here."

"Maybe we should have done the long version," Rayna smiled.

The minister raised his hand. "Um, I think it's time to kiss the bride."

Deacon pulled Rayna in for a kiss that would have definitely been inappropriate anywhere else besides a Vegas chapel. Neither one could really believe that they'd just done that and the passion they felt poured out through their lips and hands. "Oh my," the woman said. "I guess it's a good thing you didn't marry that Luke Wheeler instead."

When they finally pulled apart Rayna and Deacon thanked the woman and man and ran back upstairs to Deacon's hotel room. "I've got to get ready for the show. We should also call the girls before anyone else finds out."

"Good idea." Rayna pulled out her phone and put it on speaker as they dialed Maddie's cell. When she picked up they told her to go get Daphne and put it on speaker as well.

A minute later the girls were both there. "What is it mom?" Daphne asked. The girls were over the moon about the news. Rayna hadn't heard Maddie be that happy, maybe since she and Teddy had announced that they were divorcing.

"Does this mean that I should call you dad too?" Daphne asked.

"You can call me whatever you want." Deacon replied smile so big it made his black eye look even sadder. "Anyway, we've got to run, Deacon has a show in a few minutes, but we just wanted to let you know before you saw it on Twitter or Facebook, or whatever the kids are reading these days."

##

Twenty-minutes later Deacon was down in his dressing room and one of Luke's make-up women was trying her hardest to dab green concealer on his eye. Once she was done he turned around to look at Rayna. "How does it look?"

He could see by the look on her face that it hadn't improved it much. "Puffy," she replied. "Well, puffy is gonna have to do, cause I gotta be out on stage in 10. Hey, I have an idea."

"What's that?"

"You're going to be in the wings right?"

"Of course."

"Great, see you in a few."

##

Deacon had a five song set. It wasn't terribly long, which was dictated by Luke, but it was just enough to get the crowd moving and wondering when he was going to be in town again. Usually he started with "Playing Tricks" and ended with another upbeat number he'd written a couple of weeks ago, but tonight he felt like switching it up. Right before the fifth song he pulled his stool up to the front and grabbed another that his piano player had been sitting on. Then he told the band he didn't need them for the next song. It was uncommon for a singer to dismiss his band and go acoustic in a theater as big as this one, so the crowd perked up wondering what was going on. Deacon sat down on one of the stools and grabbed the microphone.

"This has been kind of a strange day as you could probably tell from the look of me." He pointed at his puffy eye and everyone laughed a little. "But this also happens to be one of the best days of my life. Today was the day that I married the woman that I have loved since I was nineteen years old. Come on out here baby, let's sing a duet for the crowd."

As Rayna walked out on stage the audience who had paid to come to a Luke Wheeler concert wasn't sure they were believing their eyes. As Rayna reached Deacon he put his hand out to grab hers and announced "My wife, Ms. Rayna Jaymes…Claybourne?" Rayna nodded her head and the hushed tones of the audience erupted in shocked whispers. Rayna took the other stool and someone brought her a mic. "We're going to go a little old school on this one and sing the first song we ever sang together at The Bluebird back in Nashville, I think it pretty much sums everything up. This is called "No One Will Ever Love You."

The audience settled down ready to soak in any amount of scandal and spectacle that was happening right now in front of them. Later there might be snarky comments in newspapers and outraged fans, but as of this moment the 25,000 people in the audience were entranced. As Rayna and Deacon launched into the first verse, Luke's manager ran from backstage to Luke's dressing room.

When he entered they were doing the finishing touches on his hair, which Rayna had always told him was pointless because he's wearing a cowboy hat anyway. "Luke we have a problem." Luke's mood hadn't improved much since Rayna handed him back the engagement ring earlier in the night, and he snapped at the manager. "Isn't it your job to solve problems?"

"Yeah, but this is going to be a PR problem. Deacon and Rayna are out on stage right now. They just announced to all your fans that they got married." Luke jumped up out of the chair and made a bee-line for the stage. When he got there he stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of the two of them there on stage, looking more in love than ever. "Get them off of there," he fumed.

"We can't they're mid-song. It will look even worse if you pull them off stage in the middle of their love song. It'll look like you didn't know."

"I didn't know!"

"Yes, but you don't want your fans to know that. You'll look like a fool. Be the bigger man. Go out there and congratulate them."

"Are you crazy! I'm not congratulating them. They can go to hell for all I care." Luke turned around and stormed off. Deacon saw the commotion going on at the side of the stage, but tried not to have it distract him as they sang. When the song closed he took Rayna's hand in his own and kissed the back of it. The crowd erupted, and Rayna gave his hand a little squeeze. This day had definitely taken a turn for the better.


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks everyone for the reviews. Glad everyone is liking this fun, fluffy departure from the reality of season 3. I wish it would go this way, though I think we're in for a long season of Rayna with Luke. I wrote the first three chapters as a one-shot and split them up, but here's one more last short chapter as a closer. **

##

A week later Deacon and Rayna were back in Nashville. There were three weeks off before Deacon was supposed to go back out on the road with Luke's tour and he hightailed it out of Vegas on Rayna's Highway 65 jet, carefully avoiding both Luke, and what he was sure would be an uncomfortable conversation with Pam. Despite the fact that the relationship hadn't gone much further than what people saw in public he knew he'd probably led her on a bit despite knowing like he always did, that loving anyone but Rayna just involved lying to himself.

They'd picked up the girls when they'd gotten home and Daphne was so excited that she was practically sitting on Deacon's lap on the way back to the Belle Meade mansion.

"Does this mean that Deacon is going to move in with us?"

"Yes, it certainly does Daphne. I mean, I guess it does. We didn't really talk about all that before we got married."

"We didn't talk about anything before we got married Ray."

"Well, we just expressed how we felt in other ways," Rayna cooed while reaching out to grab Deacon's hand."

"Eww," Maddie interjected. "Daughter sitting right here in the back of the car. I love that you guys got married, but I do not need to hear stuff like that."

Rayna smiled back at their daughter. "Sorry sweetie."

"Are you going to change your name to Claybourne?" Maddie asked.

"Well, I think I might hyphenate it a la June Carter Cash. Is that okay with you guys?"

"It's fine, it's just…well I think it's kind of weird that you guys have the same last name and I don't. I am your daughter after all. Do you think I could hyphenate it too? I could be Maddie Conrad–Claybourne."

Deacon and Rayna looked at each other. Rayna knew this might cause some friction with Teddy, but at least she wasn't trying to get rid of his name all together. "Well, why don't we talk that over with your other dad, but I don't see why not if it's what you'd really like."

She eyed Maddie in the rear view mirror, quietly smiling to herself in the same way that Deacon did when he was pleased. Rayna turned on the radio and the new Juliette Barnes song came blasting back. "Mom, don't change the station." Daphne pleaded.

"Wouldn't dream of it! After all, she's one of my artists now." Daphne and Maddie sang along to the music, and even Rayna and Deacon hummed along. _Well-oiled machine _Rayna thought, _check_!

##

When they got home Maddie was on her computer. "Mom, they're saying that you were cheating on Luke with Deacon the whole time, that you never had the intention of marrying him, that you just did it for the publicity. Is that true?"

Rayna sat down next to Maddie. "No sweetie, it's not. I would never do that to someone. I cared about Luke, maybe I even loved him, or at least I thought I did. I thought I was doing the right thing for me and you and your sister, but as time went on, I realized how wrong that choice had been. I love Deacon, I always have and I always will, but I wouldn't have cheated on Luke, that would have been wrong."

"But they're saying that's why Luke punched him, cause he caught you guys kissing. Are they lying?"

"Well, not exactly. I did kiss Deacon before I ended things with Luke, but that was just a sign that things should end. I never had the intention of hiding it from Luke."

Maddie looked concerned. "I love that you and Deacon are together, but people are saying nasty things about you, and that they'll never buy a Highway 65 record again. I don't want to lose our house."

Rayna stroked Maddie's hair. "We're not going to lose the house, and even if we did, we have two other houses that Deacon owns flat out. It might not be the room we have here, but they're both special in their own way."

"What makes them special?" Maddie asked.

"Well, the house in East Nashville is the first place that Deacon and I bought together back in the day. It's where I thought we'd raise you when you were born. And then there's the cabin which is well…let's just say you wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the cabin."

"Ewww, why are you always doing that mom?"

Just then Deacon walked in the room. "Get used to it. Your mom and I love each other and we're not shy about showing it." Deacon walked over to Rayna and kissed her on the lips, then he leaned over and kissed Maddie on the top of the head. "Fine, just try not to do it too much around me, alright?"

"We'll try," Rayna said laughing.

##

A week later Deacon and Rayna were in bed together, and the girls were sound asleep. Rayna had ointment in her hands that she was lovingly rubbing on Deacon's bruised eye. "At least it's not swollen anymore. Though I wonder how long it will take to stop being all yellow and purple?" Rayna asked.

"What, you don't remember? You've done this for me quite a few times Ray."

"Don't remind me. I was hoping I'd never have to do this for you again."

"Well, this one wasn't my fault. In fact, it was more your fault."

"Yeah sorry about that. What can I do to make it better?"

"Well, marrying me certainly helped, but a kiss would be good too."

"A kiss? Where?"

"How about here?" Deacon pointed to the corner of his eye and Rayna tenderly kissed his bruised skin. "And here." Deacon pointed to his cheek that was finally returning to the proper place on his face. Rayna once again softly planted a kiss on his face. "And here." This time he pointed to his mouth and eyed Rayna with sultry anticipation. Rayna leaned in slowly and took Deacon's lower lip in her mouth. She sucked on it every so gently at first, then with more intensity when she felt him tug back. As the passion continued to rise within her she straddled him and ran her fingers up through his hair before reaching down and lifting his t-shirt off and tossing it to the floor.

She'd been wearing a nighty, but Deacon slipped the silk over her head before she even knew it was gone. This right here, this is what she loved, being close to him, being consumed by him, by the passion they shared. She knew how close she'd been to throwing it away, and never having it be like this again and the thought shook her to the core. Rayna pulled back a second leaving both of them panting for more.

"What?" Deacon asked as one hand held her to him and the other tangled in the mess of her hair.

Rayna looked down at him lovingly. "Nothing, I just love you so damn much. I don't want anything to ever come between us again."

"It won't baby. I love you too. You're my wife, and I'm your husband, and I won't let anyone or anything come between us as long as we live. That's my promise to you. My vow. Deacon pulled her face down to his kissing her hard. Then he rolled her onto her back and made love to her until all they could feel was the silkiness of each other's skin and all they could taste was each other's lips and tongues, and all they wanted in life was each other.


End file.
